::: By Hand and On Foot :::

Category: Art shows, art galleries, etc
(page 1 of 5)

This weekend I trekked up to Napa to hang my solo show at the Napa County Library. I was not the only one headed to Napa – it turned out that a big rock festival was taking place in town, and mine was one of many hundreds of cars heading into town. No matter; I drove up the night before I needed to be there, and the only hurry/worry was being on time for dinner.

I arrived at the library at 9am, an hour before they officially opened, so I could unload my car and move it out of the way. The Friends of the Library was having one of its book sales, and big crowds were anticipated. My first task was to hang prints in the hallway leading to the community room, where the sale was taking place.

A couple of Via de la Plata prints and “Grace of Summer Boughs” (named after a line in a poem by Emily Dickinson) complete the lobby area. “Grace” is also on the library’s promotional materials for my show.

Here is the reference desk with prints behind and to the side.

Even though the library had a nice modern hanging rod system, it takes a long time to hang a show. It took me five hours to hang 32 prints – but it was well worth the effort, and I am very pleased with the results.

My work will be on display through June 28 during regular library hours. There will be a reception on Friday, June 13, 6pm – 7:30pm, which will include a talk and presentation by me. I’m looking forward to it – really!

And to wrap it all up, here is a video Stephnia Pramuk, who coordinates the library’s art shows, made to promote my exhibit. It’s quite nice.

This has to be one of the most beautiful art fairs anywhere. It’s situated up in the redwood mountains between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. The ‘fragile’ arts – ceramics, glass, jewelry – were up in the parking lot, but we lucky visual artists were located in amongst the trees.

Here you can see some of my bins of prints. If you look closely, you can just barely see the duct tape holding the big black print bin to the tent upright. My site had all sorts of slopes and angles, and I had everything taped and roped together so it wouldn’t roll downhill. It all worked out, and I got a lot of traffic through my tent.

Here is another view of the fair, with my rack of mini-print cards in the foreground. Just across the way you can see the tent of my booth-neighbor, Jany Seda. Her work is lovely, and we had a fine time hanging out together.

If I looked up from my site, I could just see the tents and crowd in the parking lot above.

Looking downhill to what was referred to as the ‘artist grotto.’ That’s one of my prints hanging on the tree. Not to worry! I didn’t add the nail, but used one that was in place from years past.

I had a great time! A beautiful location, an incredibly well-organized fair, good artist neighbors, lots of fabulous conversations with attendees (including Kim Baise, who mentioned the print she bought in her blog).

New this year: there’s an app for that. You can download an Open Studios map app for your iPhone, iPad, or Droid. Sort by type of art, location, name, create a route, and find out where to stop for lunch. How cool is that? Here is the app in action at the Preview Show.

For the more tradition-minded, you can buy an Open Studios calendar at any one of more than 40 venues in Santa Cruz county. Or just follow the green signs during Open Studios weekend. Studios in the South County will be open this weekend.

The Preview Exhibit – a great way to see a sample of all 300+ artists’ work in one place – is at 526 Broadway, and is open through October 21.

My studio will be open October 13 & 14 and October 20 & 21, 11am – 5pm each day. Come on by – there’s a lot of new art to see! Find me on the calendar or on the app, or just come to 816 Hanover Street, here in lovely Santa Cruz.

Here is a first look at my current project: finishing up my prints for the 4th Annual 50-50 show at the Sanchez Art Center. This show promises to be a lot of fun: 70 artists commit to making 50 works of art in 50 days. The art is then sold – right off the walls! – as a fundraiser for the art center.

The official description for my set of prints is “ambiguous figures in ambiguous landscapes.” I followed the general scheme I’ve been using lately: monoprint backgrounds (sometimes with chine colle or inkjet transfer) with linoleum-block figures superimposed.

For the show, the artists were all given 6″ x 6″ blocks to use. A lot of artists were able to work directly onto the blocks. Since I work on paper, I had to mount my prints onto the blocks using acrylic gel medium. I then used the gel medium as a glaze, to protect the paper surface.

Here are the first few photos. The images are all done; what I’m working on now is the titles and the labeling.

Please come to the show if you can! Or, better yet, come to the reception on Saturday, August 24.

There are two parts to the reception. The Gala Preview reception is from 6 – 7:30pm; you can purchase the $10 admission at Brown Paper Tickets. The Gala Preview is the only time you’re guaranteed to see the entire show. After that, as people purchase work, gaps will appear in each artist’s section.

Well, I haven’t been the most prolific of blog writers of late, but that’s mainly because I’ve been juggling projects galore. One perpetual project is keeping my print inventory up to date and ready to go: bagged, backed, priced, sorted, labeled, boxed. That done, I’m ready for a road trip!

This time, the trip was just down the road about a mile, to yesterday’s Poetry Festival Santa Cruz, ably organized by my friend Daniel Yaryan of Sparring with Beatnik Ghosts fame. Daniel asked me almost a year ago to come up with a design for the festival logo. I believe I’ve posted it before, but just to refresh your memory, here it is:

Forty poets performed their work in the ballroom at the Cocoanut Grove down at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, while next door in the concourse were booths showcasing books by local small presses, poetry-related memorabilia, and art. That’s where I come in.

Here I am in my hipster hat at my booth.

Not too shabby a view.

The Festival ran from 3pm until around 9pm. Here it’s beginning to get busy.

Most of my time was spent taking care of my table (with the excellent assistance of Sarah-Hope), but once or twice I was able to duck into the main ballroom to hear some of the poets perform. Here is Ellyn Maybe and her band.

A good time was had by all, and we’re hoping for another festival next year.

Now back to work… it’s a cold and rainy day here in Santa Cruz. When it’s cold, I move my workspace into the kitchen. It’s easy to turn a stovetop into a tabletop! Just be careful not to get ink on your vegetables.